A FIGHT for one of the last swathes of greenbelt land in Tamworth is mounting with 5,000 residents being armed with the power to save it.

Tamworth Borough Council has called for 800 homes to be built on Anker Valley in order to meet Government targets and demand for new homes by 2011.

But residents desperate to save the "valuable" piece of land say the move is "unnecessary" and, if given the green light, it will devastate nearby homes and make residents lives a misery.

In a bid to make the council back down, campaigners are distributing 5,000 leaflets urging families living in the Spittle Ward, which covers Leyfields to Perrycrofts and Anker Valley, to voice their objections.

The replies will then be presented by campaigners to the council to show the strength of opposition to the plan.

Campaigner Michael Cooke, aged 68, of Perrycrofts, who is spearheading the campaign to save the site, said: "People have knocked on my door asking if they can have some of the leaflets to deliver.

"I had no idea so many people felt as strongly about this as I do."

The self-employed financial advisor added: "If this plan goes ahead it will have a devastating effect on our homes."

Between 2001 and 2011, 5,000 homes need to be built across the borough.

The council has already agreed to slash the number of homes from 1,021 to 800 following public consultation on the Ashby Road Anker Valley site.

But campaigners argue other brown-field sites being developed over the next few years should cover the number of homes allocated for the greenbelt site, making its loss "completely unnecessary".

Independent borough councillor Chris Cooke said: "The plan as it now stands will include an allocation of 800 dwellings on the greenfield Anker Valley site that is not needed and will most likely be built before other available brownfield allocations are used."

The second stage of public consultation into the Local Plan will end on May 26.